Quenneville delayed taking action when assistant molested players

Joel Quenneville resigned as coach of the undefeated Florida Panthers when an NHL investigation determined he had placed winning a Stanley Cup in Chicago over taking action to protect players from sexual abuse by one of his coaches.  As the Blackhawks were making their Stanley Cup run in 2010, video coach Brad Aldrich was preying on some of their players.  Kyle Beach, 20-year-old left winger and a first-round draft pick, said Aldrich played videos of pornography and masturbated in front of him and threatened him professionally and financially if he didn’t engage in sexual relations.  Beach told TSN that he was “raped” by Aldrich, and that he reported the incident to the team’s mental-health coach,  Dr. James Gary.  According to Beach, “Doc Gary told me that it was my fault because I put myself in that situation.  I buried this for 11 years, and it’s destroyed me from inside-out.”  Quenneville on May 23, 2010, met with team president John McDonough and general manager Stan Bowman, and a decision was made to postpone dealing with Aldrich until the postseason was over.   “To see him parading around with the Stanley Cup,” Beach said, ”made me feel like I didn’t exist.”  On June 14, five days after the Cup victory, Aldrich resigned but was allowed to participate in Cup celebrations.  The team provided a positive letter of reference that enabled Aldrich to obtain coaching jobs.  Aldrich, now 39, served nine months in prison for sexually assaulting a high school hockey player in Houghton, Mich., in 2013.   Quenneville said he was resigning from his Florida job with “deep regret and contrition.  I want to reflect on how all of this happened and educate myself on ensuring hockey spaces are safe for everyone.”

Dear Coach:  It happened because you weren’t paying attention.  Aldrich sent numerous text messages to players emphasizing his close relationship with you.  Beach said he and another player allowed Aldrich to molest them because they thought Quenneville would protect him, which he did.